Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
MPR

Performance Today®

with host Fred Child

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Jessica Deutsch and Ozere

Jessica Deutsch and Ozere

Jessica Deutsch has studied violin in Cuba, Turkey, and France. She is also a student of Celtic, Mariachi, and Gypsy music. So what happens when she brings all of that together? We'll find out on Friday's Performance Today, when we hear Jessica Deutsch and Ozere perform a new piece called "Anyplace."

JoAnn Falletta

JoAnn Falletta

According to conductor JoAnn Falletta, the energy an audience provides can completely change a performance; it's certainly a key difference between a rehearsal and a performance. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic play Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4 with a boost from the audience in Buffalo, NY.

Our weekly musical game

Our weekly musical game

Every week composer Bruce Adolphe joins us for a musical game; our Piano Puzzler. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer, and we get one of our listeners on the phone who tries to guess the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with the Piano Puzzler, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

A cheeky sonata

A cheeky sonata

Pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin has a special affinity for composer Joseph Haydn. In part because, as Hamelin puts it, Haydn "...wasn't afraid to drop his pants once in a while." On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin play a cheeky Sonata by Haydn.

Music in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Music in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. and Duke Ellington met in 1963, they talked about American music and life. Nine years later, Duke Ellington wrote a composition, Three Black Kings, in honor of Dr. King. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear that piece from a concert in Buffalo, New York, as part of our celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Lucid Dreamer

Lucid Dreamer

Jens Kruger's composition, Lucid Dreamer, was inspired by the idea of not just of controlling dreams while you're in them, but of living all of life as a lucid dream. On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll hear new music by Jens Kruger for the combination of Appalachian strings and string quartet.

Julia Fischer

Julia Fischer

Julia Fischer was 12 years old the first time she played the solo part in Beethoven's Violin Concerto. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear how she sounds after twenty years of practice, when we go to Zurich, Switzerland to hear Fischer and the Tonhalle Orchestra play Beethoven in concert.

Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony

Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony

On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll go to a concert at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles to hear conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic play a piece that Felix Mendelssohn called his "celebration of a religious revolution."

Ravel's Mother Goose

Ravel's Mother Goose

Hey diddle diddle, a section of fiddles. The horn jumped over the moon. The audience cheered to hear such sport, and the flute ran away with the tune. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear the New York Philharmonic play Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose in concert at Lincoln Center.

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